Page 47: of Maritime Logistics Professional Magazine (Q1 2011)

Maritime Risk

Like every other aspect of the RightShip system, the groundbreaking environmental risk rating
incorporates a raft of variables. The shipowner and the vessel itself can be rewarded for perform-
ance where it has gone beyond what is required by the regulations. For example, Section 5 of the
rating system awards ten points of credit for a vessel certified to ISO 14001. Similar incentives
await those affiliated with Green Marine in the Great Lakes, certification to class environmental
standards, the presence of a ship’s energy management plan and other similar protocols.

Standalone at the moment, the module allows RightShip – for those who want it – to provide a tool
that can benchmark environmental performance including but not limited to identifying hazardous
materials on board before recycling. For shipowners, it is a good news/bad news proposition. For
those ships involved with a Marpol deficiency / oily-water separation violation prosecution, the

Green rating won’t look so good. While encouraging poor performers to improve, the RightShip
approach goes even further. Norman says, “We’ve developed a rating system where charterers
and owners are going to start having to look at and reduce their emissions along the lines of cor-
porate requirements. For example, a charterer might charter one “dirty” vessel but then have to
make up for it on the next three so that the overall average is within compliance. So, while you
might be looking at individual vessels, the target for a charter or owner might be an overall ten
percent reduction in emissions over time.”
around age – the old adage of an older
vessel can’t be a good ship.” Not neces-
sarily, insists the RightShip CEO. “A
vessel, operated properly and main-
tained to a high standard over its life-
time can be characterized as a good
risk. The owner can’t change the fact
that the ship was involved in casualties
or detained in the past, or has had three
name, flag & class changes, etc. What
he can demonstrate is current perform-
ance.” Finally, the software can be con-
figured to produce flags that say,
“Vessel Needs Senior Management

Approval.” Another charterer might say
“we don’t period vessels from a compa-
ny which has a deficiency rate greater
than 3 or something similar.” “These
sorts of caveats are very common,” says

Norman.

ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL

Increasingly, it is not just charterers
who are interested in vetting evalua-
tions. For RightShip, a number of ter-
minal and “receiver” clients have come
into the fold. Because some customers
have specific mooring requirements,
suitability to terminal considerations
for incoming tonnage is an important
factor. And, just because the terminal
isn’t chartering the vessel doesn’t mean
that they don’t share in at least some if
not all of the risk associated with that
vessel’s port call. A vetting service
designed for terminal operators is long
overdue and RightShip has stepped into
the breach to provide a customized plat-
form for just that purpose.

RightShip vets dry bulk, petroleum,
gas and liner ships worldwide for a
myriad of clients. That’s not to say there
isn’t competition. Warwick Norman
knows it. “We think we have a pretty
good system. The oil majors have some
good systems, too. I do think we have
the best third party system. Our early
goal of creating the best possible vet-
ting system continues today unrelenting
with substantial capital rollover into the
equipment.” As risk changes, so too
does the RightShip system.

Norman continues, “Vetting was for-
merly focused on detentions and now
we’re looking at individual deficiencies.

We see what we call community risk or
industry expectations shifting signifi-
cantly over time. Therefore, your vet-
ting system must be able to reflect that
change.”

For all its technology, algorithms and
ease of use, the RightShip vetting sys-
tem can be boiled down to a simple
common denominator: Warwick

Norman insists, “We want the client to
have a good commercial result from the
vessel it does charter.” In other words, it
all comes down to finding the Right